He wants a real relationship, she's afraid to love. It’s complicated, but is it impossible?

She’s a children’s counselor devoted to helping others; he’s a stubborn client reluctant to accept her assistance. He wants a warm and loving relationship; she prefers to keep things physical. Professional boundaries dictate neither of them can have what they want.

Having grown up with no one but herself to count on, Maggie Lapage carefully guards her feelings. Professionally, she goes above and beyond to give others the support she wishes she'd had as a child. When she develops a forbidden attraction to a client’s father, she does what she thinks is necessary, to save his family, and to protect her own heart.

Tom O’Shay finds his life caught in a nightmare when he risks losing custody of his daughter. It goes against his character to seek help, but he doesn’t have a choice. That doesn’t mean he has to like it. Everything changes when he falls hard for his daughter’s counselor, and he suddenly has two fights on his hands. One for his daughter, and another for the woman he loves.

Maggie
Lapage, my female character in It’s
Complicated, made her first appearance in Show No Weakness as a young co-worker of Joely Sinclair. Maggie had
a knack for stirring up trouble. She called it helping people. Others might
call it meddling. But she always had the best intentions. Several of my readers
told me how much they loved her feisty personality, and their comments inspired
me to write her story. I had a scenario in my head where she’d fit perfectly
and, from there, the story quickly came together.

The
storyline formed easily, but accurately portraying Maggie’s character was a
little more of a challenge. She’s young, urban and loves all the girly-girl
things I know little about. She’s tall and fashionable and very outgoing.
Again, not anything I can easily connect with. I blogged about my dilemma at
the time (https://joyceholmes.wordpress.com/2013/01/26/definitely-not-a-hip-young-urbanite/).
Secondary characters are easy and fun to write; they can be quirky and even a
little outrageous without necessarily needing to reveal what made them this way.
Lead characters require more depth and motivation. I really wanted to do right
by Maggie, because after everything she’d been through, she deserved it. Yes,
she was impulsive and just a tad of a busybody, but once her background and motivations
were made clear, her personality quirks became understandable and relatable.

I once knew
a young man named Thomas. He was very much his own man and stubbornly
independent, sometimes to his detriment. Thomas left this earth far too young,
and to honour his memory, I named my male character, Tom O’Shay, after him. I
also gave Tom some of that same quiet strength of character and stubborn
independence. Who better to pit Maggie’s helpfulness
against than someone who abhors needing help?

My
inspiration for the storyline came from the place where all my stories come
from. The desire to convey a real life
situation full of emotion, which tugs on the heartstrings, and eventually
finishes with a satisfying happy-ever-after. Hopefully, my readers will find
that I accomplished this goal with Maggie and Tom’s tale, It’s Complicated.

~~~oOo~~~

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Joyce Holmes lives with her husband and very small dog in the beautiful Okanagan region of British Columbia. Photography and blogging about her travels are two of her passions, along with visiting her kids and grandkids. When she's not dreaming up stories in her head or planning her next great adventure, she’s off enjoying the great outdoors.

Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use a RoanePublishing.com Gift Code. No purchase necessary, but you must be 18 or older to enter. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter, and announced on the widget. Winner well be notified by emailed and have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. The number of entries received determines the odds of winning. This giveaway was organized by Roane Publishing's marketing department.

Thursday, November 9, 2017

I haven't done a blog hop in FOREVER, and I'm thrilled to co-host with Bobbie from Nurture Your Books! Check out their awesome grand prizes...

Nurture Your BOOKS™ Blog Hop Prizes:

For readers – 3 lucky winners will each receive a huge, book prize package with lots of brand new books in a variety of genres (some will even be signed!!) and lots of cool book swag! For authors – several winners will receive a free, premium author service from Nurture Your BOOKS™. Both are open internationally!

Monday, November 6, 2017

All her life Cass has been the wallflower, quietly content to make her mark from behind the scenes. As a cognitive psychologist in the research field she will use her intellect and tenacity to heal the “broken” brain. Because she learned long ago she isn’t capable of fixing broken minds, maybe not even broken hearts.

Possibility. Strength. Acceptance.

Bryan doesn’t even want to think about his present. To escape his past, he had always looked to the future. As a materials engineer he will use his ingenuity and talent to develop state-of-the-art products. But now an accident has drastically broad-sided his life…and the hits keep coming.

Force of will. Daring. Absolution.

They give each other the motive to step beyond self-consciousness, to reach outside themselves to touch the other. They discover the courage to pull one another close. To love. To be loved. From one another they draw the power and fortitude to move beyond mistakes.

“That's the Kind of Love You're In” by Sons of the Desert. The lyrics speak of the depth and breadth and length of the man's love for the woman. I won't print the whole song, but a stanza and the chorus go:

All my days I'm by your side

Till I have no days to give

And from the bottom of my soul

You're the reason I live

Baby, that's the kind of love you're in

My promises, by them I will stand

With nothing less than everything I am

I'll walk through fire for you

Just say when

I wanted my story to reflect that kind of love, the willingness of the hero to “walk through fire” for the heroine. I also wanted a story in which another version of the phrase “through fire” could be meant – by way of a great struggle, the hero and heroine get their HEA.

So the song gave me my title, as well as the inspiration for the book.

Shortly thereafter, I came up with characters. I've started several other stories, but Through Fire is the only one in which the opening scene was the first scene to come to my mind. All my other stories “started” somewhere in their middles. For Through Fire, I was sitting in my car at work, eating lunch, when my muse showed me a young woman in a gym intrigued by a young man, also working out. My muse then informed me that he was an amputee. I asked, “Are you sure?” and she replied huffily, “Yes, I'm sure.” Luckily I had my computer with me, so I just started typing away.

~~~oOo~~~

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Growing up, and for quite some time after, Sage was a reader and a dreamer, but didn’t often put pen to paper. After becoming addicted to romance novels, she would often rewrite the stories in her head. Then late one night, while listening to music, with story ideas dancing in her mind, she was overcome with an undeniable urge to actually write.

Sage is a nature-worshiper and spends a fair amount of time hiking and camping (real camping, not the wussy RV kind) with her family. She also rides horses as often as she can (which isn’t often) and gets her horse fix by volunteering at the local therapeutic riding center. Her other volunteer gig is a non-profit group that helps military veterans train dogs as support animals and service dogs. In her previous life (former career) she was a veterinary nurse for over 20 years, and has always had a passion for medicine, which is behind the presence of “medicalese” in her stories.

GIVEAWAY!!

Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use a RoanePublishing.com Gift Code. No purchase necessary, but you must be 18 or older to enter. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter, and announced on the widget. Winner well be notified by emailed and have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. The number of entries received determines the odds of winning. This giveaway was organized by Roane Publishing's marketing department.

Harmonia Shae, a time traveler, faces a revengeful fallen sidhe queen set on enslaving humankind. A Sihir magician traps Harmonia’s freewill inside a talisman forcing her to submit to three summonses.

On the brink of death, she finds an unwanted champion in Tristan Avery. Upon awakening, she is in his house. Frightened, she scrambles to escape his overbearing need to protect her. Time is short, she must find the ambassador of the gates and return to her cousin’s house to formulate a plan of action to undo the cataclysmic effects she is compelled to inflict on an unsuspecting city once she completes the queen’s commands.

The wild cowboy sidhe, Tristan Avery finds the dark haired beauty unconscious and poisoned with copper. Determined, to find out why she is here, he follows her every move. When a calamitous earthquake hits Sedona, he is sure she is connected to the mystifying vibrational energy storming through the ley lines of magick. As minder of the Kingdom of Sidhe, he becomes entangled in a battle to safeguard Sedona and defend the women he’s vowed to protect.

Harmonia and Tristan can’t stop the tempestuous hot relationship developing between them as they each hide their own secrets. Will these two overcome the obstacles and find love?

The idea of a cowboy sidhe
fascinated me. In Emerald’s Ring, Tristan Avery resonated with the old west,
wearing wranglers, cowboy boots and a black Stetson. The setting takes place in
the rustic red mountains of Sedona, Arizona. A mysterious setting filled with
mystic possibilities.

Before I wrote Emerald’s Ring I
took a vacation and stayed at the Enchantment resort, which is built in Boynton
Canyon, eight miles from the quaint town of Sedona. It’s a magical resort
nestled in the spectacular, nature-carved red rocks.

The spa resort blends in with the
environment of the Southwestern décor and for a time you are transported away
from the bustling sounds of the city into a vast vortex of geological
development.

In the Coconino National Forest, I
took a tour and hiked to an ancient Palatki Site. Old ancient writings were
still carved into the rock beds. In my imagination the Sinaqua Indians came to
life. I speculated on the culture of these mountain Indians and wondered what
would happen if an ancient chalcedony stone was ripped through time and the
spirit of the Palatki were held captive inside the vortex of the red mountain?

The idea spurred my imagination and
Emerald’s Ring came to life. The heroine, Harmonia Shae, a time-traveler, is
thrust into a whirlwind of chaos, when manipulated by a Sihir magician and
forced to steal the chalcedony stone, along with seven ancient acorns from the
Celtic tree of life.

Tristan, a sidhe warrior and part
time rodeo bronco rider, leaves to Sedona for the annual rodeo. Unexpectedly, A
Sumerian djinn female comes barreling into his world causing more ruckus than
any bronco he’d ever encountered.

I put these two very different people
together and wondered what would happen if they fell in love.

~~~oOo~~~

GIVEAWAY!!

Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use a RoanePublishing.com Gift Code. No purchase necessary, but you must be 18 or older to enter. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter, and announced on the widget. Winner well be notified by emailed and have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. The number of entries received determines the odds of winning. This giveaway was organized by Roane Publishing's marketing department.

As the person responsible for calling the bronze dragon that destroyed her village, Losha is tasked with killing it. Failure to do so means she will be outcast from everything she has ever known. Yet one she is on the road, two local women in tow, she finds that she is strangely reluctant to harm the beast that lurks in her mind.

After an encounter with an oddly familiar old woman and a knight in a small hamlet Losha is more confused than ever. On one hand, failure to slay the dragon means she cannot return to the promise of marriage from a local boy yet the more she learns about the dragon the less she wants to harm it. It, like the bronze sword that is her only defense, speaks to her in a way nothing else has.

The stage is set for a final showdown between knight and beast when the knight’s true quest is revealed and Losha must choose between all she has ever known, or the companionship of an old woman…and a dragon.

Forging Mettle

By Michael Siciliano

Xander, a teenaged street thief in the grimy slums of Low Town, discovers he has an innate magical talent on the same night his father is killed. Intent on getting revenge, he attempts a risky robbery which goes bad. Rather than face the hangman’s noose, Xander agrees to accompany a group of soldiers intent on finding a powerful magical artifact. But the Beggar’s Hand isn’t what the King’s sorcerer thinks. Deep in the mountains, Xander must make life and death decisions, not just for himself, but the Kingdom he calls home.

Valcone is the reclusive prince of Auric. Confined to his room—for the safety of his subjects—he craves control over his persuasive powers.

The prince and the farmgirl’s powerful personalities will collide with epic force when a war erupts between Auric and a neighboring kingdom. With Auric’s fate on the line, Valcone tests the limits of his ability. He amplifies his steady push into a forceful shove against Meadow’s gentle Nature. The Earth-shaper finds herself between a rock and a hard place, literally, where the only choice to save her family may lie in surrendering to the destructive force of her ground-breaking ability.

Mist Weaver

By Terri Rochenski

Dolan wants nothing more than to escape his village for the big city where his small stature and unpleasant features won’t make him the recipient of constant ridicule by the lord of the manor and his heir, Gilroy. The mist that dances to the sweet notes of Dolan's flute is his only camaraderie and the only beauty in his life—except for Keavy.

When the kind milkmaid is faced with unwanted attentions, Dolan must defend her honor with a choice that will ultimately change his life.

Alice and the Egg

By Rebecca Hart

Alice would do anything for her father, the only parent she’s ever known since her mother’s death in childbirth. When he falls ill, Alice doesn’t hesitate when the opportunity to barter her life for his is presented by Jayden, the prince and only heir to the Dragorean throne.

It doesn’t take long for Alice to realize the palace has secrets. Ones that relate to her own past more than she could ever have imagined. If she can find a way to play the game of secrets well enough, not only could she save her father, she just may manage to save herself as well.

GIVEAWAY!!

Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use a RoanePublishing.com Gift Code. No purchase necessary, but you must be 18 or older to enter. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter, and announced on the widget. Winner well be notified by emailed and have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. The number of entries received determines the odds of winning. This giveaway was organized by Roane Publishing's marketing department.

Newly hired NYC blogger Cassandra Hale has finally achieved her dream-living and writing in the big city. Eager to prove her skills and secure her place, Cassie pushes hard to gain respect from the new age publishing group where she’s recently snagged a position.

With her energies focused, Cassie’s work flourishes…until her reality rapidly unravels.

As a sudden witness to murders in her sleep, Cassie becomes convinced that she’s losing her mind.

All she wants is to discover a way of making these gruesome visions stop. But with no control over them, her subconscious mind begins to wreak havoc on her life.

At the edge of her sanity, Cassie decides to take matters into her own hands and tracks down the latest victim from her dreams, subsequently gaining the unwanted attention from NYPD detective Derek Ward.

Struggling to cope, not only with accepting her newfound abilities but with her perceived involvement in a crime, Cassie is forced to contend with interrogations from Ward, who’s convinced she has something to hide.

As Cassie and Derek both fight to discover the truth, as well as a growing, unwanted attraction towards each other, they are ultimately thrown together as the stakes jump even higher-Cassie’s premonitions turn to a man whose diabolical intentions are eerily close to her.

Mind’s Eye initially began with the creation
of Cassie’s personality. From there, it
was all about envisioning how she would deal with the extraordinary things that
begin happening in her life as the story progresses.

I visualized Cassie to be a young 20-something
journalist who is ambitious and confident yet slightly out of her element by living
in New York City for the first time. She
is a contradiction in many ways-like most of us-and the main focus of her
journey is figuring out how to cope with her gift of astral projection amidst
all the other obstacles being thrown at her.

A gift is definitely not how she views her
ability to see people die for the majority of the book but as Cassie grows as a
person and lets Detective Derek Ward into her life, she begins to accept
herself.

Cassie and Derek’s love story was written as
a supporting role for Cassie’s experiences and to help guide her toward self
acceptance. Ultimately, the evil she
gets tangled up with only becomes recognized as a threat when Cassie uses her
vision and fights to regain control of her life.

Mind’s Eye is the result of Cassie’s ordeals,
coupled with metaphysical and new age themes, and how they shape her into the
person she needs to become in order to survive her ultimate vision.

Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use a RoanePublishing.com Gift Code. No purchase necessary, but you must be 18 or older to enter. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter, and announced on the widget. Winner well be notified by emailed and have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. The number of entries received determines the odds of winning. This giveaway was organized by Roane Publishing's marketing department.